


> Execute Program: don'tcrypriince22.ath

by ElasticPoodle, orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Everyone else is sad, Sollux gets a happy ending for once, ambiguous afterlife
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-13 23:33:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2169519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticPoodle/pseuds/ElasticPoodle, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In all the parallel instances of Alternia, there were a precious few in which one Sollux Captor, linked as he was to the aspect of Doom itself, managed to get a happy ending.</p>
<p>This is one of those instances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	> Execute Program: don'tcrypriince22.ath

**Author's Note:**

> We are aware that this is very expositiony in more then a few placed, though mainly the beginning and the end. That's rather what happens when you cram a few thousand sweeps into a single chapter fic. If enough people are interested, we might expand this into a series, we're not sure yet.

(Click and drag)

It was on nights like these that the staggering beauty of Alternia could be truly apparent. The green moon was just hugging the horizon, the light from the sun reflecting off its surface to coat the east in a jade glow, and the pink moon hung directly overhead, its own reflected light catching the edges of the parked starship, painting the bright red hull an almost fuchsia colour, though not quite matching the royal shade.

This was The Imperium, formerly the Imperial Flagship, SS Battle Condescension, which had long since been taken as a prize along with the Empire it represented. Since then, it had been renovated in reflection of the changes its new captain and crew had planned. Gone were the sharp edges, the unforgiving points and almost trident like shape, replaced instead with smooth curves and flowing lines. Even the interior had been gutted, the Helmsman removed and given the only thing he had asked for: death. The entire system had been replaced with a newer design, a more efficient engine that did not require a Helmsman at all. At least, not one as Alternia had come to understand it.

That was some sweeps ago, and those old enough to remember the time before Her Imperial Consolation took the throne could be forgiven for thinking that it was not the same ship at all. None warmer than gold remained from those times, and in truth only one even of that shade still clung to life, laying in a soft pile of blankets and pillows, wondering over how the privilege of dying of old age was still such a new concept to their species. Even two hundred sweeps ago, it was something very few could imagine, let alone hope for.

Sollux Captor was, in fact, a very old troll. He had easily lived to twice what his natural lifespan would have been. He may even have permitted his life be extended further... except he had met his Ancestor, in those last days before the old order was overthrown and the first few days when the new order was established. Feferi had promised she would never force him to linger for that long, and they had both agreed it was for the best. Besides, twice what he would have lasted without her was a good amount of time. Even thinking of it now brought a smile to his lips. Yes, this was something he was very happy with.

Looking out of the large, reinforced window that was the viewing platform where they had set him up for his last hours, Sollux fumbled for Feferi’s hand, struggling slightly to entwine their fingers. She was still so young, her hands smooth and in his eyes perfect, whereas his own were clumsy with age, the joints swollen and sometimes painful. Her hair remained a sleek, glossy black, unlike the silver yellow of his own, curls fanning out behind her onto the pile, and he used a flick of psionics to brush a lock away from her face, tucking it behind her fin neatly. She was so beautiful, so soft and so fierce when she needed to be. It was almost hard to believe that they had been children together, once upon a time.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He said, nodding toward the moonlight dappled landscape, voice creaky with age and briefly closing his eyes as he heard his own words echoed in his head. It was strange, there was no screaming. At least, not from him. He’d always assumed he would go out screaming, and he almost wondered why his vision twofold had never told him otherwise... but then, to die happy and at peace was not an unfortunate fate at all.

“Yes, it is,” Feferi responded, her voice just a little bit hoarse since she’d spent the last few days dreading this. The last few sweeps, in fact. Watching all her friends slowly wither away had been inevitable, of course, but it never became any easier. Karkat had been first, depriving the Threshsecutioners of their heroic leader, then Aradia, maimed as she had been by childhood events, then Tavros, who’d led the Cavalreapers from infamy to true heroics, and now Sollux, the one she’d dreaded the most. But it was to come to pass. Gl’bgolyb had even been whispering comforts to her, even from this far away. “We couldn’t have asked for a better night.”

Her fingers entwined with his and she used her free hand to remove her goggles, setting them aside. Then, she placed her hand on his cheek, forcing a smile as she gazed down at him. It wouldn’t be long now, of course. But, it was time to say her goodbyes. Not that she wanted to, but she’d regret it if she said nothing, even when her throat locked up at words.

“One day we’ll meet again. I promise.” Of course she did. Whether it was true or not, that depended on how one believed death would be. Maybe there was something to do after dying. Maybe Sollux would go on as a ghost. Who knows. Before her death, Aradia had been tight-lipped about what ghosts told her. It wasn’t supposed to go this way, she’d said, but she couldn’t complain either, really.

The others, those still alive, had gathered in the block to see their friend off. It was strange, seeing the progression of age taking its toll on them. Nepeta would be next, the famous huntress having gone on to lead a band of rangers, and Kanaya, the head caretaker of the Mother Grub. Yet on the other end of the spectrum, there was Eridan, still looking almost as young as she.

Quite a staggering difference, really. Why did some have to die so early, while others got to live on? Life wasn’t fair, she knew, and had accepted, but seeing them go was still sad.

“Don’t you want to say anything to the others, Sollux?” she asked, rubbing her tired eyes.

It took a lot of effort to nod but of course he did, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze and even smiling as he gazed into her eyes. He wasn’t sure how to reassure her. He knew if their positions were reversed he would be in pieces, yet she was holding it together so well. He could almost fall in love with her all over again. “Of course. I have things to say to each of them.”

“Should we just go in order then?” Feferi asked, looking up toward the group. It would probably be easier to save Sollux’s infamous enemy for last, at least.

He gave another nod. He kind of thought that any order was strictly arbitrary, but if it got them through everyone, then it worked just fine.

“Alright...” Feferi paused. “Nepeta?”

The once spry huntress, who now mostly gave direction to her underlings, ambled up toward the pile. She still maintained a perky, happy-go-lucky demeanor, though it was clear age was getting to her. It might only be about a dozen or so sweeps left, for her. She gazed down at Sollux and offered him a smile.

“Hey Solcat,” she chuckled, then fell silent, waiting for him to say his piece. Still with the puns, though she only used them sparingly in the presence of very close friends. Feferi, on one hand, found them comforting and familiar.

There was a whole extinct cast between them, but with Sollux’s already extended life it had brought them to an almost but not quite equal number of sweeps. It broke Sollux’s heart knowing that they would be departing so close to each other, leaving the others with two sets of grief to deal with.

Still he smiled at her and quirked a cheeky eyebrow. He, of course, always had absolutely loved puns, but that one was rather weak. “What, not ‘Mr Catpur?’ NP, you hissapoint me.” He chuckled and reached out his free hand to her, the other still clasping Feferi’s as tightly as he could manage.

This had Nepeta laughing. “I haven’t used that one in sweeps. I can’t believe you remempurr it,” Nepeta flashed Sollux a toothy grin. “Do you remember when I used to roleplay that I was sitting on your keyboard? It was silly. I’ll miss it.”

“I remember,” He reassured her with a nod. “And I would always tell you to be careful of the bees. I rather wish I had indulged you more often. Perhaps we’ll get another chance, someday?”

“Of course we will!” Nepeta assured Sollux, her robotic tail twitching in response. “I won’t let you get away that easily, Mr. Catpurr! Heehee!”

Feferi couldn’t help but smile at Nepeta’s antics. Despite her trying to remain perky, she could tell that the cat troll was still hurting from yet another loss of a friend. But perhaps she’d be lucky - Feferi felt like they’d be meeting again, sooner than most.

Sollux used his psionics to ruffle Nepeta’s hair. He rather wished he had more to give her, but their common interests were few, even if she was always a good friend.

“Ready for the next one?” Feferi asked quietly, as Nepeta gently gave Sollux’s forehead a pat before ambling off back to her seat, helped by Kanaya, who still maintained some of her dignity and strength, despite her own age.

A deep breath and Sollux noded once again, shifting and drawing a pen drive from his pocket. He had a little more for Kanaya than just a few final words, it was something he’d perfected only earlier that sweep, before his body really started to decline.

Kanaya stepped forward, her elegant black and jade dress sweeping around her feet. It was in a classical style, although, quite elaborate especially for a midblood, but of course, since she took her orders directly from Feferi as head caretaker of the Mother Grub, she could get away with it. It also helped that Feferi had suggested she should wear something better than that old red skirt, of course. Especially after Karkat had died, the color was something that they kept for the ship, to commemorate his service, but wearing it never really felt right after that.

Kanaya leaned down near Sollux, blinking at him.

“Hello Sollux,” she said, keeping her usual careful speech patterns. Even in the face of another friend dying, she was always so dignified. Of course, most of it was just an act, since she wasn’t so above all the strange shenanigans they’d all gotten into over the sweeps. “I suppose this is the end of one journey, hm? And the start of another, as I always said.”

“It does seem that way, yes,” He said with a bit of a chuckle, reaching up and taking her hand, and slipping the pen drive from his fingers to hers. “Here, I made you a computer support AI. When you break your computer,” not ‘if’, ‘when,’ “Simply plug that in and Solluxbot will do the rest for you.”

Kanaya looked surprised, staring at the pen in confusion at first and then a mixture of amusement and offense. “Of course,” she laughed, placing her other hand over Sollux’s. It was a wonder she wasn’t glowing simply from the amusement of it. “Thank you, Sollux. I’ll cherish this, I promise.”

Of course the others down in the audience were chuckling at this too. Even Feferi couldn’t help but crack a smile. Kanaya “Touches it for five minutes and it has fifty viruses” Maryam had been the cause of one particular ship shutdown back in the day, and nobody had forgotten it.

“Terezi?” Feferi asked as Kanaya whispered one last thank you to Sollux, and the Legilacerator stepped up, her usual impish grin present despite the grim events of the day. She’d become one of the most famous legal workers in history, perhaps more known to the modern day than even Neophyte Redglare herself.

“Hey nerd,” she said, bending down to Sollux, though she couldn’t see him. “What’s up?”

“Oh not much, just dying. You know, boring stuff,” he said, casually, using his psionics to tug her a little closer. “There’s one thing I’ve been planning to do for a while, but the time never seemed appropriate. Of course, this will be my last chance in a while, so I think you can agree that I better not miss it?”

“What is it?” asked Terezi, making that strange question mark expression with her lips and mole on her cheek. Nobody really knew how she did that, but it’d become quite endearing over the years.

“Hmm, lets call it a taste of your own medicine, shall we?” He said with a playful expression.

Then he used his psionics to drag her down, and licked all over her face.

That had the tealblood in a laughing fit, dropping her cane on the ground and attempting to push him away gently with half-hearted “nooo’s”. This sent the audience into fits of laughter as well. Just seeing Sollux happy, making everyone laugh, helped Feferi by contrast feel light, even though her heart was heavy in her chest and would be for a while.

“I’ll get you back for that one day, Sollux.” Terezi promised, before prying herself away and fixing her glasses, which had been knocked askew.

“Vriska?”

As the Legilacerator went back to her station, picking up her dragon cane, the strategist stepped up. Of course, she hadn’t become a “pir8”, since those were generally a thing of the past unless you counted internet denizens. However, she had a great mind, and had quickly volunteered to take to space to help Feferi and the others hunt down Her Imperious Condescension, even if just to bring herself some glory.

“Sollux,” she said, blinking down at him. He had something to say to everyone, but Vriska was sure whatever he had to say to her probably wasn’t as lighthearted as the others, even though their old feud had long since ended.

Far from dragging Vriska down toward him, Sollux instead propped himself up on one elbow and fixed her with a steady gaze. “Much like TZ, there is something I’ve been wanting to do to you since we were children. I refrained because of how much of a _completely crazy bitch_  you are, and also because I don’t tend to initiate shit. But what are you going to do now, kill me?”

Then all of a sudden he flashed a grin, and a ball of psionics slammed into Vriska’s face at speed. Possibly even enough to break her nose.

Vriska reeled back with a cry of pain, placing her hand over her nose and gritting her teeth, looking like she was about to flip. Feferi almost stood up in warning, but the spider troll flashed Sollux a grin. The first one she’d given him that wasn’t malicious, in fact.

“Good one. I didn’t think you had it in you. Wait for me and I’ll give it to you back 8-fold, okay?”

She made her way back to her place, letting Kanaya fuss over her nose. Of course Kanaya would fuss over her nose, but this time, she didn’t protest or call her Fussyfangs.

“Equius?”

The large troll that some had come to nickname “refrigerator”, just due to his size and muscle mass alone, made his way toward the pile. He’d become the greatest prodigy of robotics that had ever been seen, and had created droids and even patented his battle-bots, which had caught on in national sport across the galaxy.

“Yes?” he asked gruffly, he had little to say to one who’s station was so below him, and yet, over time, didn’t find him SO bad. Not that he’d say that or anything. Or maybe he just couldn’t think of anything to say.

If Sollux could read Equius’s mind at that he would probably roll his eyes, and this might have turned into an argument. Fortunately he could not, as they didn’t have time for that. They had only worked together over countless sweeps. It was only their combined brain power that had figured out first a non-invasive helming rig, and then an entirely new engine system altogether. One that ran on black holes, rather than innocent Trolls.

Besides, they were close. Closer than Sollux would have guessed they could have been when they were children, and yet here they were.

“You get my computer,” He said, simply. Of course, probably no one else would even know how to work and maintain it, so that was only natural. “Oh, and one more thing...” He motioned Equius closer with his hand.

The giant of a troll leaned down at Sollux’s motioning, lifting his shades to peer at him more effectively. At least give him that. He’d earned it.

Sollux grabbed the front of Equius’s shirt, pulling himself up (there wasn’t a chance in hell that he’d manage to actually MOVE the brute.) and pressing their lips together fiercely, one last time. One last black kiss for the road.

Equius reacted with surprise, and sweat, of course, lots of sweat, but obliged him before pulling away.

“In front of everyone, Captor? Don’t be so l00d.” Feferi covered her mouth with her hands to hold back her look of amusement. Oh, now that was rich. She hoped someone had photographed that.

“Yes, in front of everyone,” Sollux smirked, letting go and flopping back onto the pile. “Try not to break your next one. Not everyone has the benefit of psychic cushions.”

With a snort, Equius sauntered back down to where he’d been before, letting Nepeta gently pat his arm (the highest place on him she could actually reach).

There would have been one between Equius and Eridan - Gamzee - to call up, however, quite a long time ago, and much to everyone’s pride in her, Terezi had had the courage to rise up and have him executed. She’d grown stronger as a person since then, especially without someone beating her down. It had all been legal, and she’d fought for her case with dignity. Sometimes Feferi wondered what things would be like, if he hadn’t been killed, but that was neither here, nor there. There was one last person to call up.

“Eridan?”

Her stomach was in knots at the name. The two had had a long-standing feud, although it’d mostly simmered down to grumbles in hallways as the two matured, rather than outright face-offs. Still, she trusted both of them to at least keep their cool.

The other seadweller made his way to the side of the pile, standing in a way that he thought was dignified though what Feferi thought seemed a little pretentious, but that was just the usual. He flicked one of his purple locks from in front of his face and looked down at the elderly troll.

“Captor.”

“Ampora,” Sollux responded. His breathing was starting to become labored and he reached up a hand, which quickly flopped back to his side. “Come closer.”

Eridan looked a little wary, but he bent down toward Sollux anyway, frowning suspiciously. The lock that he’d just fixed fell back into his face in a decidedly un-dignified manner.

“Closer,” Sollux insisted, and if he was playing with Eridan, it was honestly hard to tell.

Eridan bent ever closer, his skeptical expression becoming more prominent. They were barely inches away, now, and even Feferi was wiggling her fins in confusion about Sollux’s motives.

“I just wanted you to know,” Sollux said, then had to pause to cough a few times, right in Eridan’s face. “I just wanted you to know, that out of all the people I have ever met in my many sweeps, all the countless Trolls who have influenced my life... out of all of them, without a doubt, you have been the absolute biggest douchebag I have ever met. And if you so much as even try to take advantage of my death to weasel your way back into Feferi’s quadrants, I have paid a lot of money to make sure someone keeps an eye on you and they are ready to saw your horns off.”

Eridan’s expression at this made him look like a strangled rodent. Feferi couldn’t help but smile, even as her eyes watered because she knew it was almost the end. That one needed a photograph, too.

Sollux sat back, laughing and wheezing and giving Feferi’s hand one last squeeze, even as the energy rapidly drained out of him. He leaned his head against her, feeling the coolness of her skin against his cooler than usual cheek. Still shaking with steadily weaker and weaker bouts of laughter, he slowly became still.

The glow left his eyes at the same time as his body gave one last shudder, inhaling sharply, but not exhaling again. The others couldn’t see the way he sat up and was greeted by familiar arms, drawing him away. To them, he was simply gone.

Feferi couldn’t help but laugh, even during her tears. To the very end Sollux had been the same sarcastic asshole she’d fallen in love with, and somehow, that made her heavy heart just a little bit lighter. She gathered his body up in her arms and held him tightly, even as the others quietly murmured among themselves and filed out to leave her to her grief for now.

Of course, she couldn’t stay there forever. She had arranged for him to be honored in a public ceremony, just like the others that had passed before him, but for now she retreated back to her personal quarters, where she’d stay on her own, at least for a while.

Time would pass, of course, and she’d return to her duties. Perigees would go by before things truly felt like they were almost normal again, though something was missing. Always.

It was one night on Twelfth Perigee’s Eve that Feferi decided to turn on her old computer - the one that Sollux had given her this very holiday, in fact. She’d kept it, of course. Even if it didn’t see much use anymore, because in all honesty she simply preferred tablets. She didn’t have the gills for advanced tech.

The computer didn’t take that long to boot up, it was designed by Sollux after all. In fact, it took exactly twenty two seconds to boot, and as soon as it did a program automatically ran, filling the entire screen with a video player.

The video took a few moments to buffer, and whilst it was doing that, the preview appeared. It was Sollux’s face, but not as she’d seen him last. No, in this video he couldn’t have been older than six sweeps.

Feferi stared at the screen with a slack jaw, almost tearing her goggles off her face and rubbing her eyes just to make sure she was awake, that she was really seeing this. Was this some sort of trick? No, this computer was designed by Sollux, after all. She turned back to the screen, looking at the young version of her beloved.

How long ago had he planned this? She waited for him to speak.

The video finished loading and sprang into motion, Sollux making a few adjustments on the camera to make sure it was centered properly before sitting back. His childhood hive could clearly be seen behind him, the split recuperacoon with the red and blue medicated slime, the scribbles of odes and plans on the walls, the piles of game grubs scattered haphazardly across the floor, Sollux’s sillicomb drives and the bees flying around, one alighting briefly on his horn until he whistled and it flew off back to the hive.

All of this familiar, except from so very long ago.

“Hey FF. So if you’re watching this, it means a couple of things. First of all, it means that I’m dead, and you just turned on your computer. Sorry about that, knowing me and my luck it was probably really unpleasant.”

She wanted to talk back to the computer. Assure this child that he would die, safe and happy and old, even if he wouldn’t have believed it at the time. Instead, she simply knit her hands together and held them to her chest, watching the face on the screen intently.

“Second of all, it means that whenever and however I died, we were still matesprits at the time. Which begs the question of why the hell you’re not with someone better, because like I’ve said, you can do so much better then my sorry ass, but there we go.” A half smile and a shrug. It was just so typically Sollux.

Feferi shook her head. Even to the end, he’d constantly asked her why, and she’d never really given him a reason. Sollux was just... right. He’d stood by her loyally, saved her ass time and time again. She couldn’t have asked for better, though she still felt like she could have worked harder on trying to make him see just how “wonderfoam” he really was.

But that half-smile and shrug. It was charming. He’d done that, even just before dying. She rubbed her eyes again, this time to wipe away the beads of tears.

“Regardless of how long I actually last, well, if all goes according to plan and at least with this much I haven’t foreseen anything going horribly wrong, at least not yet, you’re going to seriously outlive me. And I mean by possibly literally thousands of sweeps. We just don’t know. It’s not like we’ve ever had an Empress die of old age to give us any kind of estimate.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “...I can’t leave you alone, FF, you deserve better than that. So, assuming I don’t go crazier than I already am and forget, there is a removable hard drive plugged into your computer. Don’t touch it just yet, but if you keep it plugged into whatever computer you’re using, every now and then the program on it will spit out a video for you. And you and I both know the programing will be flawless, I wrote the code.”

Of course it would be. But it was a comfort, to know that she’d be able to at least see him again. If not in person, than in video rather than photograph. Not that she hadn’t hung the photographs of them over the sweeps all over her private chambers, of course. She’d done that.

“And another thing: You will absolutely NOT be betraying me if you get another Matesprit after I’m gone. Don’t ever let yourself think that. As long as it’s not ED, we’ll be good. More than anything I just want you to be happy, no matter what that takes. After all, it would be an even shittier world then the one we’ve already got if it was deprived of your smile,” Sollux continued, leaning forward and giving the camera a very serious look.

Feferi couldn’t help but offer the computer a smile, even though she knew he couldn’t see it. But she’d try. Because she could at least give him that.

“So, yeah, that’s my long term plan to try and make sure you never feel alone, or forget how much I love you. If you’re wondering how I was able to make sure the code ran now it’s really simple: I just imported my own lifespan as the condition for it running. This is grade 1 coding skills, KK uses his own lifespan for most of his codes and then wonders why those ones don’t run. Idiot.”

Feferi had always wondered how that worked. She took the sleeve of her dress and wiped her face, even though her makeup was smeared now, before regarding the screen again. Maybe now that she had these videos to look forward to, the sweeps might not be so long.

Sollux gave her one last smile, making a heart shape with his fingers and thumbs, then the video cut off. The player shrank off screen, then vanished into a new folder labeled “Archive” on the desktop. Feferi could re-watch the old videos whenever she liked, it seemed.

That would be useful. She wondered quietly just how many videos he had made. Maybe hundreds. Or maybe he didn’t have enough time for that many. But maybe he did. She seemed gripped with uncertainty. Divided, one might say.

She stood for a moment, as though ready to leave the room and collect herself.

The clock hit midnight, and straight away another video popped up. Sollux didn’t look much, if at all older than he had in the last one. In fact, he may have made it immediately after in order to start stockpiling them.

“Happy Twelfth Perigee, FF!” He said as enthusiastically as he ever sounded. “Don’t look now, but if future me was on the ball, there should be someone at the door with something for you, right about now. Go get it, I’ll wait.” He then made a show of looking at his watch and tapping at it.

Sure enough, there was a knock at the door to Feferi’s private block. They couldn’t get in without her permission, of course, but everyone knew where it was just in case of an emergency.

She stared at the computer in surprise - it had actually startled her, she hadn’t expected another one so soon, but she followed the direction, walking toward the door and opening it. How had he set that up? The others must have been in on it, but somehow, she didn’t really mind.

“Hello!” she said, as enthusiastically as she could muster.

It was a delivery Troll holding a small box and some flowers. He bowed deeply to her in respect and held them out to her. “Delivery from a Mr Captor, your Highness.”

Feferi accepted the box and the flowers, looking some level of incredulous. Then, she offered the delivery troll a wide smile, a genuine one.

“Thank you very much, sir,” she responded, offering a bow of her head in return, before taking the items inside and offering the troll a few coins from her pocket - always tip the service workers, always - and sitting at the computer again, placing the box on the desk to open it.

“Got it?” Sollux asked on the screen after a moment. He had overestimated how long it would take her to collect the gift, creating a kind of delayed reaction effect.

“Yes” she responded, even though he couldn’t hear her. It just made her feel a bit better to say it. Pretend they were having a conversation.

“Awesome. Flowers and chocolates are always appropriate, right? There won’t always be anything exciting because if you always knew when to expect something special, there would never be a surprise,” He offered her a smile. “Of course, you won’t know just how special things can get, anyway, and I’m sure future me will think up more things, so you have shit to look forward to.”

“I will,” she responded again, picking up the bouquet and holding them in her arms, sniffing at the flowers. He could be very sweet, when he wasn’t spilling hot coffee on people he didn’t like, from a mug that said “fuck you” on it. And she appreciated every last ounce of everything about him.

“Now, this is your first Twelfth without me and I know you’re going to be tempted to mope and spend it alone. Sorry, but you’re not allowed to do that. Go have fun, talk to the others and whatever other friends we’ve made between now and then. Matesprits order.” He said, kissing his fingers and pressing them to the camera. The video cut off again, and was filed away in the archive folder.

Feferi took one of the flowers from the bouquet, attached it into a lock of her hair, and then on cue turned, to make her way to the flagship’s main room.

The others were having a 12th Perigee’s Eve party there, as always. Even though their numbers were dwindling, there wasn’t any reason to mope forever. Sollux was right.

When she returned to her room and opened the box of chocolates, she found another, smaller box inside with a heart shaped silver locket and a note. “2ayiing there wa2 nothiing 2peciial twoday wa2 a double bluff two make you lea2t expect iit. ii hope you had fun wiith the other2, love you. <3”

Feferi put the locket on immediately, and when she slept, her dreams were not nightmares, but memories of the years that had passed. She wore that locket every day from then on, and took it off only to be cleaned and polished. Among all the other silver and gold and precious gems she owned, this was her most cherished possession.

Over the next few sweeps, videos popped up on every important occasion. Feferi’s wriggling day, their anniversary, the anniversary of her coronation, all the important holidays, his own wriggling day because he knew she would probably be sad, the anniversary of his death because he knew she would probably be even sadder. He reminded her of things that, for him when he’d been making the videos had been current events, talked about how beautiful she was, how she was the best thing in his life.

Most gifts were either chocolates or flowers or both. He made her a video game which downloaded itself off of the hard drive for her, on really special occasions he’d preordered fancy drinks for her, got her fancy hair ties and clips. He was creative. He pestered her about getting another Matesprit, even said that he would get them something nice when she did.

In a way, she got to watch him grow old all over again.

One by one their friends slowly met their time - first Nepeta, then Kanaya, then the others. Sollux had a code linked to a video for each of them, reassuring her that he’d take care of them and probably end up gossiping or some shit. When it was Eridan, he made a big deal of pretending to beg her to take him back, but he was laughing the whole time, barely wheezing out the last few sentences about how they didn’t want him here.

Feferi had worked through her grief, and came to regard the videos as happy occasions that she looked forward to, they helped her through the monotony of ruling the empire, and even helped her mobilize to dissuade a war in a distant star system, one of the old colonies that her predecessor had founded.

Even when she was the only one left, the videos kept coming. The names of her friends faded into history, of course, but she remembered. She always would. Hundreds of sweeps, then thousands, the empire stronger, and more peaceful, than ever.

Millennia had passed since she had heard a true prophecy from Gl’bgolyb, having kept her fed and happy, without much to predict. This one came as a surprise when it was whispered to her. A new Heiress had been hatched.

This came as both a relief and a worry. How would her heiress handle the empire? Surely she would die, wouldn’t she? She would, yes, but not at the hands of the heiress. Gl’bgolyb’s prophecies were always cryptic, but this one was puzzling. Wasn’t an Empress dying at the hands of the Heiress tradition?

She chose to council the Heiress, instead of attempt to assassinate her. She’d seen her number of sweeps, after all, and so she assigned this to herself, as her final duty. She took the girl under her fin, imparting as much knowledge as she could, before the inevitable end.

She soon came to know what the prophecy had foretold, after all. The war, brought to peace dozens of sweeps ago, still had bad blood boiling, of course. It always would as every war came with a price. Assassins had been sent and though it’d taken them their time to arrive, they’d had their sights set on the Heiress, because targeting her would weaken the Empire.

Of course, Feferi wouldn’t let that happen. She’d protected the youngster, but at great cost to herself, and the girl’s youthful face was the last thing she’d see before her dress was stained fuschia.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for this for a really long tide. Take care of the empire.”

As with Sollux and all their other friends before her, the world did not entirely vanish straight away. Rather it blurred, as if watered down, and familiar hands reached out and took hers, lifting her up to her feet and pulling her close.

She reached toward it, as though she could, relief washing over her. Was this a final blessing? Had her hope for the afterlife been true?

“Hey, FF,” was murmured in her ear. Sollux looked neither old, nor young, and he sounded neither old, nor young. In death, he and everyone else were simply the perfect balance of everything they had ever been, all at once. “Long time no see.”

They were all there. All eleven of her friends, her beloved friends whom she’d missed and remembered for millennia, all there to welcome her, to bring her into their ethereal world. This was an even better afterlife than she could ever ask for, and she felt herself laughing and crying at once, the same as the day Sollux had died. How long had it been, since she’d felt pure, true, joy to the core? Too long. She reached out, took Sollux’s head between her hands, and pressed her lips to his.

Finally.

****  
  


Some are like water, some are like the heat

Some are a melody and some are the beat

Sooner or later, they all will be gone

Why don't they stay young?

 

It's so hard to get old without a cause

I don't want to perish like a fading horse

Youth's like diamonds in the sun

And diamonds are forever

 

So many adventures couldn't happen today

So many songs we forgot to play

So many dreams swinging out of the blue

We let them come true

 

Forever young, I want to be forever young

Do you really want to live forever?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiAGCP9eWVE


End file.
